Unlawful-stop Claim

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Darrell K. Haze v. Mark Kubicek

Case No.: 17-1037

Officials: FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Unlawful-stop Claim

Darrell Haze was ticketed for disorderly conduct after he tussled with Milwaukee Police Officer Mark Kubicek outside the Bradley Center on the night of a Bucks game. He contested the ticket and won. He then sued Kubicek for damages alleging that the officer unlawfully stopped him, falsely arrested him, used excessive force, and targeted him based on his race.

Officer Kubicek moved for summary judgment on all claims, and Haze sought partial summary judgment on the false-arrest claim. A magistrate judge, presiding by consent, denied the motions based on pervasive factual disputes. After a two-day trial, a jury exonerated Kubicek on all but the unlawful-stop claim. On that claim the jury found that the stop was unlawful (because it was not supported by adequate suspicion) but was not the proximate cause of any compensable injury.

Haze filed two posttrial motions, one for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and the other for a new trial. He argued that the jury’s split verdict—finding that the stop was unlawful but the officer did not use excessive force— was fatally inconsistent. He also asked the judge for nominal damages and a declaratory judgment as remedies for the unlawful stop. The judge denied most of these requests, but she did award $1 in nominal damages for the unlawful stop.

On appeal Haze contends that he was entitled to summary judgment on his claim for false arrest. That argument is procedurally foreclosed. The false-arrest claim was tried, the jury rejected it, and neither of Haze’s posttrial motions challenged this aspect of the jury’s verdict. That blocks our review. Ortiz v. Jordan, 562 U.S. 180, 188–89 (2011). Haze also reprises his argument that the jury’s verdict was inconsistent. It was not. The lawfulness of the stop and the lawfulness of the officer’s use of force were distinct inquiries subject to different legal tests; an unlawful stop does not make an officer’s later use of force per se unreasonable. Finally, Haze argues that the judge wrongly rejected his request for a declaratory judgment. The judge reasonably declined to issue that extra remedy; the jury’s verdict is vindication enough on the unlawful-stop claim.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.